1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to static structures, and, more particularly, to multilevel buildings with ramps.
2. Description of Related Art
The demand for affordable, high-density housing and commercial office space in urban areas must often be delicately balanced against the availability of parking facilities nearby. In fact, real estate developers are often required to provide adequate parking facilities as part of any new development. Storage space for, and easy access to, vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles, golf carts, bicycles, trucks, vans, buses and/or other personal transportation can often consume large amounts of valuable open space in close proximity to high-rise building. Consequently, many inner-city buildings are provided with garage facilities directly above or below the floors or levels which are occupied by the residences or businesses. Since these owners often prefer to be as far as possible from the noise and congestion at street level, garage facilities inside these buildings are typically provided on the lower levels, and often underground.
In this regard, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,290,837 and 3,824,752 to Weston disclose multi-story buildings having parking facilities on the lower levels. However, such parking facilities generally have limited capacity due to the large, open central well. They can also are expensive to build and safely operate. Furthermore, users of the building are often inconvenienced by having to use multiple sets of stairs and/or elevators in order to move between the parking level and the level on which their home or office is located. Moreover, for building complexes with very large underground parking areas, it can often be difficult to find a parking space near the most convenient stairway or elevator. Consequently, a tenant may also have a long, and potentially dangerous, walk across the underground garage. However, drivers must often park several levels from their habitable space and must cross a central helical carriageway in order to reach the stairs or elevator in the parking area.
Numerous ideas have been proposed for allowing a building tenant to park closer to their residence or business in such buildings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,186 to Kaufman et al. discloses a multi-story building complex with access between each garage parking deck and its corresponding floor of the building at the same elevation. However, this design requires separate parcels of land for the garage and building. Furthermore, some tenants may still have a long walk across the garage deck, the interconnecting platforms, and the breeze-ways in front of their units.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,936,083 to Dahlman and 4,971,505 to Sawyer disclose buildings in which building users may be able to park a bit closer to their destination inside a building. However, these designs require large and expensive vehicle elevator systems which must be waited on to provide drivers with access to the street and/or their parking spaces. "Progressive Architecture," Issue No. 6, June 1959, discloses a another proposed design for a hotel where seven of the fifteen guest/room floors have parking areas on the same level as the rooms. Guests arriving by car drive up ramps in the core of the structure in order to arrive at the floors on which their rooms are located. No other details about the internal structure of the building are provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,432,132 to Sturges, on the other hand, discloses a building with a rectangular driveway around all for sides of the building with two inclined sections and two horizontal sections on each level. A court in the center of the driveway is subdivided into offices or stores having entrances on the driveway. However, the driveway blocks at least some of the natural light that might otherwise reach these units and some units have floors that are inclined relative to the driveway and are therefore very difficult to climb onto. Furthermore, parking for these offices and stores is arranged on the outside edge of the building across the driveway further blocking what limited naturally light might reach the offices and stores and requiring pedestrians to cross two lanes of traffic in the building before reaching their destination.